Hope
by Ravensbleeding
Summary: There wasn't any hope. There never had been. There never would be. Raven wonders how he ever believed in it the first place.


So I was scouraging through all of the old papers on my desk and I found this! Well, it wasn't really this because this is the revised version of the story I found. But anyways, yes, this is the revised version which still isn't long but you should have seen it before I revised it.

Haha, my second Fire Emblem story!

I don't own Fire Emblem. Plain, simple, easy, yes?

The italics in the parenthesis are Raven's thoughts. While they are Raven's thoughts, it's more like a little voice in his head speaking out. Hmm....hopefully that made sense. Anyways, onto the reading!

* * *

There was always hope, wasn't there? Always hope that something good would happen, that things would change for the better? Wasn't there the hope that the underdog would win in the end, that fortune would smile upon the beat-down and broken? Well, wasn't there? Wasn't there?

No, there wasn't. Not here, not now, and the future was looking pretty grim too. There was no hope. Not even a slight glimmer. There was no diamond in the rough.

Raven ran quickly, scanning the bodies for a mess of blood red hair, a healing staff, a horse even. But there was nothing, nothing that could tell him whether she was dead or alive. All he had in front of him were bloody corpses that stretched for miles. Hell, even if one of those bodies were hers, it would be better than wandering about with false…no, the H word was no longer allowed.

_(Rusted weapons, mangled corpses. Where was the hope in those?) _

The red-headed man paused in his search and just stood among the bodies staring at the sun sinking below the horizon. It threw deep colors into the sky, from pink to red to purple to navy blue to black. He stared, watching as the pink and red faded away and the navy blue and black took over the sky.

_(Even the sun had given up hope it seemed.) _

A bright shock of blue drew his attention away from the falling sun. He made his way over to the body of one Sacaen Myrmidon and flinched. Guy had been one of his sister's best friends, loyal and steadfast. He was quick to flirt with her and even quicker to run away when Raven got after him. But his speed didn't seem to help him, if the sword in his chest was any indication.

_(There was no hope for us….)_

_(There never had been…) _

Raven stood there and felt the world shatter around him. They, their little group, he, had nothing left. Fate had snatched everything away and laughed as they cried. They – God, who was **they** anyway? Who else was living? Who else was just another nameless corpse to be burned? Will, Rebecca, Lucius? Lyn, Eliwood, Hector? Florina, Nino, Louise?

They had nothing positive to look forward to in the dark days ahead. All they had to look forward to was war, violence, death. They'd watch as their already small numbers dwindled even more. They'd watch as they all turned on each other, just walked away and left the rest to rot. They had no hope.

_(We never had hope.)_

You had to accept the mentality that now there was only you, your weapon, and your enemies. You couldn't have your allies anymore _– not that you could anyway; they're all dead, remember? Just another nameless, faceless corpse_. With their small numbers it would be only a matter of time before everything fell apart or they all died.

_(Can you take this, Raven? Are you strong enough to handle this?) _

Raven snapped, screaming out in rage against the fallen sun. "It's over! We've lost! We've got nothing left to give! It's over and we've lost and I can't even bring myself to hope for a better day…There is no hope…"

_(But, you know, maybe Priscilla is still alive. Maybe-)_

"No!" he screamed at himself. "There. Is. No. Hope!"

_(But maybe…but maybe…)_

"But Raven," a soft voice said, "there is hope." Small arms wrapped around his torso, his sister burying her face in his back. "There is always hope. Always."

He turned to look at her and in the background he spotted Matthew, Serra, Hector, Fiora, Heath and Nino. They were all standing there, beaten and bloody and bruised, but there was something in their eyes that beckoned for him to see that things were going to get better. He stared down at his sister, her eyes shining with that same longing for him to believe. She hugged him again and he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

_(There are others. They believe…They have hope. Do you?)_

Raven's whole body was tense as he fought the urge to give in and believe in what they did. He'd just told himself there was no hope, there were no better days. They were coming along and undoing everything. He had to resist.

_(You just can't let this go, can you? You can't bring yourself to look for hope in people. Not even your friends. If they're not good enough, then what is?) _

Priscilla smiled. Raven looked down and noticed this and all of his thoughts flew out the window.

_(Priscilla's smile was hope enough.)_

* * *

So the ending seemed a little off, but that's okay; I wasn't entirely sure how to end this.

I'm not sure why I picked Raven as the main character for this; If I had a reason I can't recall it.

Anyways, I hope you liked it or at least enjoyed it while you read it. Please leave a review; let me know what I can do to improve it. I'd kill for some comments like that, especially on this piece.

Well, have a good day, night, morning, whatever you want to be good!


End file.
